AICTE denied information about Polytechnic Colleges u/s 7(9) - CIC: It will not be reasonable to direct the PIO to collate such voluminous information as apart from handling RTI matters, the PIO has to handle the core work also; Inspection offered

Information Sought:

The appellant has sought the following information:

1. Certified copies of notices, documents, orders, circulars and letters issued/ given to the Government Polytechnic Colleges (GPC) at Tamil Nadu (List of GPC given in the RTI Application), during the period from 01.01.2012 to 31.12.2018, regarding lack of infrastructure and insufficient teaching staff.

2. Provide the certified copies of documents and letters received from the Government Polytechnic Colleges (GPC) at Tamil Nadu (List of GPC given in the RTI Application), during the period from 01.01.2012 to 31.12.2018, regarding lack of infrastructure and insufficient teaching staff.

3. Provide the certified copies of notices, documents, orders, circulars and letters issued/ given to Directorate of Technical Education, Tamil Nadu during the period from 01.01.2012 to 31.12.2018, regarding lack of infrastructure and insufficient teaching staff, in respect of Government Polytechnic Colleges at Tamil Nadu mentioned in RTI Application.

4. Provide the certified copies of documents and letters received from Directorate of Technical Education, Tamil Nadu during the period from 01.01.2012 to 31.12.2018, regarding lack of infrastructure and insufficient teaching staff, in respect of Government Polytechnic Colleges at Tamil Nadu mentioned in RTI Application.

Grounds for Second Appeal

The CPIO denied the information under Section 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. of the RTI Act.

Submissions made by Appellant and Respondent during Hearing:

The appellant submitted that he is not satisfied with the reply of the CPIO as under the RTI Act, the CPIO can refuse to provide the information in the form in which it is sought by the appellant but that is not a ground to refuse / deny to provide the information itself. To substantiate his contention, he relied on a earlier order passed by the Commission in File No. CIC/SA/A/2014/000024, dated 05/12/2014. The relevant portion is extracted below:

“11. Hon’ble Kerala High Court In Trees Airish VS. The central public information officer [WP(C).No. 6532 of 2006], with regard to Sec 7 (9) of RTI Act, had observed as follows:

“25. The Standing Counsel for the Public Service Commission also raises a contention that if all the candidates apply for copies of answer papers, it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority and therefore disclosure of the same is exempt under Section 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. of the Act. I am of the opinion that the said contention is misconceived …………….. That Section does not even confer any discretion on a public authority to withhold information, let alone any exemption from disclosure. It only gives discretion to the public authority to provide the information in a form other than the form in which the information is sought for, if the form in which it is sought for would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority. In fact there is no provision in the Act to deny information on the ground that the supply of the information would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority…..”

13. The Commission observes that the CPIO cannot take protection of section 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. without any basis thereof. Under Section 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. of the RTI Act, the Public Authority can deny information in a particular form but it cannot refuse totally. The said subsection does not provide additional ground for denial of information. If section 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. applies to the context, the respondent authority has to give information in the same form as available.”

He also submitted that the CPIO has failed to explain on what basis he had come to the conclusion that the information sought in the application is voluminous and hence the desired information may be provided to him.

The CPIO submitted that since the information sought by the appellant was voluminous, pertaining to 10 different colleges and covered over a period of 07 years, the same could not be provided being voluminous in nature and a reply to this effect was given to the appellant on 16.01.2019.

Observation:

From a perusal of the relevant case record and the written submissions of both the parties, it is noted that undoubtedly the appellant has sought voluminous information from the respondent organisation regarding 43 different schools and that too for a period of 06 years. This would require collection and collation from 43 different files and under 04 different headings and all this process would disproportionally divert the resources of the respondent organisation. However, the appellant is also right in stating that under section 7(9) An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. An information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. of the RTI Act, there is no provision for refusing the information altogether as the Section makes it clear that the information in whatever form it is available should be provided, therefore, the CPIO can only deny giving the information in a particular form sought by the appellant. Under such circumstances, the CPIO could have offered inspection to the appellant so as to give him an adequate opportunity to cull out and locate the specific information sought for.

During the hearing, the appellant submitted that considering the fact that the information requires collation, he may be given the desired information for 1 year only. To this the CPIO submitted that even if the appellant wants information for 01 year only, the same has to be collected from 43 different files and collection of such information will divert their limited resources. However, if the appellant is interested he may inspect the relevant records. The Commission accepts the submissions of the CPIO and holds that even if the information is to be given for one year only, the same is to be collected and culled out from 43 different files and each file may have a large number of pages. On being enquired from the appellant if he can limit the number of Institutes in respect of which he requires the information, the appellant submitted that he cannot do so and he stressed that the information regarding all the Institutes should be given to him for at least one year.

Having heard the submissions of both the parties, the Commission noted that it will not be reasonable to direct the CPIO to collate such voluminous information as apart from handling RTI matters, the CPIO has to handle the core work of his organisation as well and having regard to the prevailing situation of coronavirus, where all the organisations are working with minimum staff, giving any such direction will put unnecessary pressure on the CPIO. Hence, the appellant is given an opportunity to inspect the relevant records at a mutually convenient date and time, if he so desires, so that he can himself collect the information sought for.

Decision:

In view of the above observations, the CPIO is directed to offer inspection of the relevant available records to the appellant at a mutually convenient date and time, within 15 days from the date of issue of this order. The appellant is directed to avail of the said offer within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the letter of inspection from the respondent authority, failing which no further opportunity will be provided to him.

The appeal is disposed of accordingly.

Vanaja N. Sarna

Information Commissioner

Citation: V Lakshmikandhan v. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in File no.:CIC/AICTE/A/2019/602759, Date of Decision : 24/08/2020